Peter's Chair is for sure a breaking novel, the fantapolitical novel on a gay Pope: how many boundaries it's throwing down? gays inside the Church, sex outside the marriage, celibacy (or the lack of it). That is probably not fantasy, but it's for sure something no one dares to speak. John Simpson decides to break that rule, and he does it from as a man informed of the facts. It's clear that he knows the way of the Church, its traditions and structure. Even in the simple things, like the use of foreign language, in this case Italian, he never once did a mistake. All the Popes he is referring to, at least until Papa Luciani, Giovanni Paolo I, are real, he only decided to take a different path in history from that event, and changed the name of all the other Popes after that. For a human decision, the desires of some young Cardinals to change the path of history, or maybe for the will of the Holy Spirit, a 49 years old american man, Brian, is elected Pope. Brian is a man with a strong will and with his own ideas: he is gay and has a 27 years old lasting relationship with William, another priest he met in seminary, who now follows him everywhere as his personal assistant. If you are expecting a naughty tale about sex between men in soutane, change your mind: for all what is regarding Brian and William's relationship, they are more like an old couple than two horny men in love. More, when Brian is elected Pope, William is both worried than scared, he doesn't feel right to continue having a sexual relationship when Brian represents the same structure that condemns both homosexuality than the lack of celibacy among priests. In a way, Brian is more coherent than William in saying that he doesn't see what is changed, if they were having sex before, why not now? But I liked Brian's attitude, it was a way to prove that he really believes in his role as a priest.
Brian and William are very different, but complete each other. Brian is more a leader, but he probably wouldn't have reached that position without William by his side. William makes Brian think, gives him the chance to ponder his choices. On the other side, William has not the strength to be a leader and probably not even the outside image. It's not that William is weak, it's more that he doesn't like to be on center stage. I really liked their relationship, it talked a lot of their past together, without need to speak the words aloud.
Brian, as Pope, is more a political chief than a man of the Church, but sadly that is the true. Vatican is a little state, but it has a lot of power in the matters regarding the free choices of people all around the world, and so the work of a Pope is more a political issue than that of a shepherd of God. Peter's Chair is a a lot of adventure / thriller novel and not so much romance, but it has its sweet moments, like the day to day romance between Brian and William, made of little habits honed by years of cohabitation (Brian is not a morning person, William is a bit on the stubborn side, and so on), and the naughty side of the sex relegated to more younger men, like Brian's personal bodyguards. But still, the sex is not really the main element of this book, and I think that is right like that.
It can be said that John Simpson has a deep knowledge of the recent political history and in particular all regarding the Church. It's also clear that he has is idea and he has no problem to expose them. And, little side note, it's also clear that he doesn't like so much Italians or Italy: some remarks by Brian on how he wants all American things around him, also the smallest things like a tv programs, made me wonder what we did to him ;-) Italians and Italy are not so bad after all, at least not all of us.
http://devinedestinies.com/shopdevine/in
Amazon: Peter's Chair
The Rainbow Awards: First Week results: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/81134
Justin, a commander of a garrison near the Wall in norther Britain meets a man of legend: Falan is a shape-changer, an healer who can shapeshifter in a grey wolf. Justin is not so startled to meet the man, cause he is born in Britain and his mother has raised him with the old tales. Both Justin and Falan prefer men upon women, and so it's pretty clear and simple that they can share something together, without too much problem: they start a relationship, both maintaining their life, but finding a point amid the path to connect.But Justin, even if living far from the politics, is a man of Rome, and when Rome calls he has to respond. But if the call can put in danger Falan and his people, what Justin will do?
Taming the Mountain Mist is a smooth tale, you have a feeling of peace reading it. It's true, there is a clash between two world, but Justin seems to be a man that can conciliate these two worlds. I'd like to read a bit more on this story, less then 40 pages, cause, even if it's a paranormal tale, it's also an historical one, and I have always liked the Roman tales setting in Britain (beautiful one, Born of the Sun by Joan Wolf).
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Reading List:
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From the blurb and the setting, you would expect for this one to be more adventurous, big bang boom style: undercover secret agents searching to dismantle a terrorist organization. And instead it's exactly the opposite. The story starts when all is finished; the terrorist group is over, the interactions among the four secret agents are defined. There is the boss, Nolan, there are the good boy and the body, Grady and Ramirez, and there is the rookie, Riley. Obviously the boss is bent to push the rookie to his limit, and between them there is only competitiveness and tension... or not? The mood of all of them is different from a "normal" situation, there is not the adrenaline to be in danger. They are waiting to leave the quiet sea town where they were standing for the last 9 months and Grady and Ramirez are happy to go back to their lives. But for Riley is not the same; he has noticed that Nolan is strange, that living near the sea gave him a strange mood; leaving this place for Nolan is both a good thing and the worst event ever, near the sea he has let out something of himself. And Riley was there to catch that info and store it.
When the story start, there are three men, Grady, Ramirez and Riley, talking. Apparently between them and Nolan there is only a professional entanglement, and nothing else. Then they start to remember: the first event is a work related fact, and something that strengthens the idea that Nolan is somewhat aloof and estranged from his colleagues, as it is also proved by the fact that he is not there with them.
Then with the second walk on the memory lane, something changes, Nolan is somewhat more human, and Riley has suddenly a more personal interest in him. And so the worry that the present Riley is feeling towards the absence of his boss is more comprehensible; maybe also the reader is starting to wonder if maybe it is not happened something of tragic, if the reader and Riley himself have not to go searching for the man he loves... yes, since now it's clear that Riley loves Nolan, but it's not still clear if the feeling is mutual.
And finally, with the last memory, also Nolan comes out, his feelings and his mourning, and maybe also the reason why he is so upset to leave a place that only cause him pain. With the finally memory the circle is closed and the story is ready to start again, this time in present time and with a path no more shadowed by painful memories.
I like a lot the development of the plot, all was already decided, the characters already have set their mind, and the reader was letting inside them little step by little step. The mood and interactions between them clearly changed memory by memory, and in only 70 pages we read of all the spectrum of their feelings. What I liked maybe most of all, is that the novella was more intimate and warm of what I was expecting; the "secret agent" side of the story is in the background, and there are no firestorm to distract the reader from the main core, the two men and their love.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/novella
Amazon Kindle: Footprints
Reading List:
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Cover Art by Dan Skinner
Chasing Smoke is about how you never forget your first love and about a little spoiled teenager. Daniel and Trey were friends as teenager. They were not exactly best friends, their parents were and the kids went along when the parents did. Daniel was the son of a wealthy doctor, living in the best neighborhood of the town; Trey was the son of a police officer, with an comfortable house in an average neighborhood. But it was Daniel who envied Trey; he envied his house, his parents, his life, and desiring all of that, he desires also the boy. Daniel was young and skinny, a bit of a nerd, where Trey was the next door good boy, with a cheerleaders as a girlfriend... even more than one. It's obvious than in a situation like that, when both Daniel than Trey realized that they preferred men on women, they started a secret relationship; Daniel, with all the certainty given by money and youth, was careless and full of hope in the future, and instead Trey was still in the closet, trying to be the perfect good boy that everyone thought he was.
I don't know if the relationship would have lasted, I have the feeling that Daniel was too immature, and Trey too scared. But a tragic fate gave a sudden break: Trey's mother was killed and Trey's father was framed; he went in prison while Trey was welcomed inside Daniel's home as a second son. But Daniel was not able to see Trey as a brother, and Trey was too scared to let his feeling transpire; as soon as it was possible, Trey enrolled in the Army. Daniel saw it as a betrayal, an abandonment, and also him took the first chance he had to let the city.
Years later, Daniel is an agent for Homeland Security, and he is also a playboy on the side. He has openly gay sexual relationship, also long-term relationship, but always without strings attached: as soon as one of his boyfriends try to tight the knot, Daniel runs away. I believe he still has the feeling that his story with Trey is not ended; as I said, if it was given the time to the boys to grew on their relationship, probably they would have realized it was only a teenager crush on the only other gay boy around, but like that, Trey's dreaming image became the forbidden fruit for Daniel, something he couldn't have despite all his money. Any man after him was only a means to forget Trey and didn't work. Now that Daniel is coming back home for Christmas, and Trey is there, working as a police officer in the same department as his father, even if Daniel is feigning indifference, I think he is on the prowl to capture that dream of long ago.
I like Daniel, but I said, I think he is a little spoiled. He always does what he wants, and he is very demanding, in and out the bedroom. Even when he is the submissive partner, I always have the idea that he is the one in command. On the other hand Trey is a more gentle character; it's true, he had not the courage to come out years ago, but I believe it was in his character. Trey is a man that has to ponder every move, to weight the pros and cons, but if you give him time, he always arrives to the right decision. Even years ago, if Daniel had the patience to wait for him, he would have taken the right decision.
The story is pretty sexy, there are a lot of erotic sex scene, where, as I said, Daniel is always in command, even when he is the bottom. He is demanding and eager, while Trey is caring and gentle... it's really interesting how the author was able to mingle so well the characters in and out the bedroom, maintaining their characteristics in both place.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/cha
Amazon Kindle: Chasing Smoke
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
All right, at the beginning I had this story all wrong. I was so sure of what it was happening that it was surprising, but nice, realizing that the author managed to bring me around where he wanted and then presented me with the real story.Noah is the classical neglected son of a wealthy man, more interested in being a perfect politician in front ot the public opinion, than a good father in his private life. All in all Noah managed to grew up in a fine man, a chemical engineering that would like anything more than being left alone from his father as he has always done. But now Senator Wiltson is running for President, and Noah has to play the role of the good son... only to come back one night and find a killer in his apartment. The man, Lord, says that he was hired by the good Senator to get rid of the inconvenience that is having a gay son. Yes, since even if Noah has always maintained a low profile, he is gay and this is not acceptable for the political aspirations of his father. Only that Lord has his own reason to not like the Senator and he is double playing: he will not kill Noah, on the contrary he will give the man all the evidence he needs to find shelter in his grandfather's home and being safe from that moment on.
Two months later Noah is living with and working for his grandfather and he meets Cain; the man is the new head of security for his grandfather's chemical firm and he seems to have come out from nowhere two months before. He has no past, everything is new around him, his work, his home... And to Noah, Cain remembers a lot the man of the night, Lord. Is it possible that Cain is trying to bring on the mission he refused months before? or maybe Cain wants to be sure that Noah is safe and sound? or maybe he is not the same man? It seems impossible, too many things are similar, the wrapping up of the story it's obvious from the beginning...
The contraposition between Noah and Cain is quite clear: Noah is the gentle and quiet man, the one who doesn't like to be under the spotlight, a man who likes to be the cherished and cuddled lover. Noah is not an imposing figure, he doesn't mind to be led and directed, he has not the core to be independent. On the other hand Cain is the classical leader, forceful but caring, a man who will protect who is under his care with all his own. Cain likes to be in control, both in his public than private life, he is really convinced that only him can be the savior of the world. Maybe a little proof that he is not invincible can be a good thing to him, but all in all, he is the perfect partner for Noah.
Noah and Cain are nice characters, but if I'm to be true, I think that someone else stole them the scene. I don't want to spoil the story, enough to say that there is another man, Mars, a skinny and skittish former hustler, that even if he has only few scenes, he has probably the most interesting role of all the book. Noah and Cain's love story is good and enjoyable, but I found myself waiting for Mars and his lover to appear on the scene, and in the end, I was really hoping for the author to write a book all for their story. A story that started before Noah's one, and that will have its happily ever after more or less at the same time.
http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cg
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
Talons of the Condor is the sequel of Condor One, the fantapolitical novel by John Simpson about the first gay president of United States of America. I remember with pleasure that book, and I, above all, remember with pleasure David Windsor, Mr. President. As you know if you read the previous book, or can understand from the surname, David is not exactly some Mr. Smith throws in the chaos of the White House in Washington. He, even before being a president, was from a very wealthy family, with connection with the royal family in England, and I believe he was, as he is still, quite a spoiled man. He is not that spoiling that makes a character unlikable, but more a general attitude, o way to face all the situation, from the simple "domestic" dealing as to buy a dog-bed for his favorite Scottish Terrier, to decide if declare the WWII or not. David is a man of power, he can listen to advice, but in the end he will take his own decision. And he is used, and expects to, that every single order is taking in immediate consideration, without further postponement. He is also a man of great passions, and he can be mislead by his easily inflaming temperament. All in all, someone would almost think that David in the end is not a so nice man, but then you see the "other" David, the one who can easily get caught ogling to the bottom of some military staff, or who is content to simple lay in bed and cuddle with his young lover, special agent Shane Thompson. The story is not so much different from the previous one, there is as before a treating to David's life, but maybe this time, the things got further and bigger. The author indeed plays a bit to fantapolitic, and imagines a various range of dangerous situation, with also some nasty consequences. And I have the feeling that he realized well over the half of the novel, that he didn't put enough danger in that first part, since the events rush one after the other, and then all together, toward an end that, from the political side will remain still "open", while instead will arrive to a nice, a very romantic conclusion on the love side. I think that the author has not yet put the end point on the story of this couple, and I have an idea to who will play the first lady role on the official visit of King William II, David's cousin, to the White House.
Another thing that I notice is that David is somewhat more "domestic" in this sequel. As I said, David is a spoiled man, quite aware to be a nice catch for every single gay man. And so in the first book, I had an impression of him like a friendly and open man, not at all scared by his sexuality. I think he was quite happy to be single and among so many handsome man. Now instead David is almost calm, satisfied, but not since he is aware of his position as president, but since he is content with his relationship with Shane. And so we also see the "daddy" David, behaving like a overprotective father for his little girl, the Scottish Terrier Mary, but also for every single gay teenager he has the chance to meet. It's almost like David's fatherly instinct were aroused at the same moment he met the man who is a good candidate to be the real deal... quite the attitude of those old-fashioned women of the good society that were raised to be good wives and mothers, and who, soon after the marriage, lose the careless of youth to suddenly became the symbol of a perfect woman.
In all of this, I lost Shane... well, poor Shane is quite the supporting character in there. He is still a good man, he is devoted and unselfish, and sometime he looses the mask of composure to let us see the real man, but all in all, it's David who shines, and Shane lives of reflected light. Where it's David who suddenly becomes "domestic" and tamed, truth be told, it's Shane who plays the perfect role of the wife of a very important man: silent and always present, ready to satisfy every single wish of his man.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/current
Amazon Kindle: Talons of the Condor
Series:
1) Condor One: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/33310
2) Talons of the Condor
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Cover Art by Dan Skinner
First of all, I'd like to point out that this book is a very easy read, meaning that the story flows smoothly and it maintains always an high pace. The first chapters are also very time consuming, trying to summarize 20 years of Arthur's life in few time. Arthur's past life is not the main focus of the book, but it shaped the man who he is now, and so it's essential to identify the character. Those first chapters allows also a first time reader to take in hand Double Bound without necessarily having read Strings Attached, like me, but then, at the end of the book, you will probably have the wish to read it, like me, since while this is the story of arthur, the other one is the story of Jeremy, the eighteen years old boy that plays an important role in Double Bound. And it would be probably interesting to see how the author manages a coming of age story, while Double Bond is almost a silver romance: Strings Attached was Nick Nolan first book, and it was a coming of age book... maybe the author grows with his writing? Or maybe it's only that Arthur was so compelling in Strings Attached that the author felt the need to give him his own story? More than the story itself, that you can have summarized from the blurb, and that I would prefer not to develop more, I would like instead to talk about Arthur; the story has a lot of turn of events, and this contributes to the high pace said above. Enough to say that after all the high and down, Arthur's long and bumping life journey will end with him happy in bed with his lover, and I'm not spoiling anything, since the book starts like that, with Arthur satisfied in bed who goes down the memory lane.
Even if Arthur is a former marine, a former FBI agent and now a well-paid dogsbody who essentially has to protect Jeremy, he is not the hero type. All Arthur's grandeur gestures were made out of love or friendship, he has not a sacred fire inside for honor or patriotism. Arthur is a man who loves, and loved, too much, who can think to end his live when he is down, but that in the end never brings on the thought since he is able to love again. He loved Jeremy's father, Jonathan, and due to his betrayal he joined the Marine Corp; Arthur hoped to find in the Marine the family he hadn't and the comfort of being loved that he had with Jonathan. He did well and he opened his heart again, to Danny. But Danny died, that fathal September 11, and Arthur threw away his soldier life to commemorate Danny's love. And now Arthur is ready to love again, but at this point, it is real love, or only the memory of a lost love? or maybe the wish to finally have that family that he always searched and never found? In a case or the other, it's the proof that Arthur is able to love, and that despite all the time he was burned, he is always ready to love again.
Another thing I noticed in the story plot is that, despite being adventurous and fast paced, every events end in a "normal" way; there are not acts out of heroism, most of the time the decisive man is the one you will not expect, and even in the big action of the evil there is almost always a very small reason; and in the end, the novel closes with hope, and in a romantic way (remember Arthur in bed with his lover), but still in a very "pragmatic" way.
Amazon Kindle: Double Bound
Amazon: Double Bound: a novel
Series:
1) Strings Attached
2) Double Bound
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Cover Art (photography) by Jaime Flores
In the first book Adam, a former soldier who came back home from was was not able to return to his old life, found shelter in Calvin's hunting lodges in a small town in Texas. Someone could see Adam's decision as a run from reality, as if he wasn't faced the true. I see it instead as if Adam chose to go back the real meaning of life, and to find it, he had to go in a place where there wasn't superstructure, where he had only the essential, and so to see and find the real purpose of his life is simpler.Calvin is like the place they live, simpler and strong, steady. It's exactly the type of man Adam needs, and it's really not important that he is old like Adam's father, worst that he was Adam's father former lover. Calvin is a man of no surprise, he lives his day beat by the world outside, and not by his whims; every single morning Adam wakes up, Calvin is already awake, in the kitchen, it's a constant, it's homey, it's the life Adam wants and needs.
But as the place and the man are true like life, also the feel of the book is true, Calvin and Adam know that they can't promise forever, that Adam is way younger than Calvin and that there will be a moment when Adam will loose Calvin, and not for Calvin's choice. But as dreadful this thought is, it's another proof that this is the life: it's right that Adam, younger than Calvin, is the one that will remain past Calvin, it's not right that a war kills the youngest, it's right that the life flows with its ordinary pace.
The story allows also Adam and Calvin to confront with the outside life; first Adam's father, William, that even if worried, probably accepts the situation since he realizes that it's good for his son, and since maybe he trusts Calvin. Then Adam's mother, with her stubborn refusal to see what is good for her son. Adam and Calvin has also the chance to meet two different type of "stranger": a couple, father and son, from Calvin's world, that allows them to see how their life probably will be in the future, and a group of former soldiers, from Adam's world this time, that shows them that what they are building now is something good and right.
If I go by memory, Recovery Ranch is a very nice sequel to Recovery, but it's also way more accomplished and involving.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Series:
1) Recovery: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/29413
2) Recovery Ranch
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Dark Robe Edges: Dark Robe Society 2 by Jason Edding Again reading this second novel in the Dark Robe Society series I had the feeling to be brought back in time while instead I was reading a sci-fi story... why the apparently contrasting feelings? Since the futuristic world by Jason Edding has a late '60 feeling in it, like those Star Treck television fiction or 2001: A Space Odyssey. There is a war and there are killings, but it's all aseptic, the killings are neat, the dead bodies almost clean... it's like real emotions are extinct in this futuristic world. But then, between the main characters and inside closed bedrooms, those lost emotions come out again, and the sex, and love, between them is very much physical, the details are almost graphic, and all the repressed feelings burst open. The impact is even more violent due to that aseptic environment the characters move around when they are alone.
In this novel Jack and Edge, from book 1, continue their story and at first they are the only real couple. But then two other men start to sniff around each other. Tees is an important officer, another apparently cold man who well adapts to the world outside. But again when Tees is alone in his bedroom he indulges in the pleasure of "real" life, a glass of red wine and easel, brush and colors to paint: how strange it's to see an old-fashioned visual media like painting in a futuristic world... again the author plays with contrast. Another thing that Tees takes hidden in his bedroom are his feelings for Toren, another officer. Toren has a strange relationship with another man, and other than that, Tees has never had an homosexual relationship, and so, for now, he only dreams of the man. But then a sudden event frees Toren of his bonds, and Tees is finally free to love him. Since Toren is more experience than Tees, you would expect from him to take the lead on their relationship, but, in a way, the military hierarchy are respected also inside the bedroom, and Toren unveils to be a gentle and submissive lover.
Both couple, Jack and Edge, and Tees and Toren, are nicely developed, and their personal story is well balanced with the futuristic plot; there is a rebellion to bring on, and a war to fight, and the book doesn't underestimate it... don't blame me if I'm more interested on the personal side of the plot, enough to say that who likes more the other side, will not be disappointed by the novel.
Series: Dark Robe Society
1) Space Escapes: Dark Robe Heart: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/50895
2) The Edge of Desperation: Dark Robe Edges
Beyond Duty by James Buchanan
The second book in the anthology is exactly at the opposite in feeling to the first. Beyond Duty has not that aseptic emotion, if I had to do a comparison, Jason Edding is a Stanley Kubrick and James Buchanan is a George Lucas. The world of this second book is full of strange creatures, a melting pot of culture. And due to this melting pot, there are no higher or lower classes, only different shades. Alad is an officer, but he is not exactly a by the book one. During a night out, he is searching for a thrill, from sex or fight doesn't matter, even if he had to make a choice, he probably would prefer sex. And when he meets Hirah he finds both and also something else. But even if an odd one, Alad is a soldier, and at the end of the night he has to partake from Hirah; the hope to see him in the future is a nice one, but unlikely... other than discover that his next assignment is under Hirah's command! Alad and Hirah are soldiers of a futuristic Army, but they behave like today man, when it's time to fight, they fight, when it's time to love, they love, and the sex is fast and dirty, without nicety, since you don't know if you have a tomorrow.
After the first initial surprise, practical Alad understands that it would be useless to deny that he is attracted by Hirah, and proposes the man a pact: outside their bunk, they are superior and subordinate, but inside it they can be lovers. Hirah accepts, but this doesn't mean that he will be fully open to Alad, it's not in Hirah's nature. Again it seems that all the emotions are voiced through sex: it seems like Hirah needs the physical contact, like a thirsty man with water, like it's something that he was deprived for too long. Alad doesn't push, he gives without questions, and their mission allows them to be even more near.
Again there is an adventure plot, an old betrayal ready to come out again, and enemies to find and fight... but again, sorry, I was more interested in the romance side of the story. As I said the sex has a main role in it, and again it's hot and detailed. A thing I noticed in both books, despite the futuristic setting, and the odd nature of some of the characters, the sex remains plain and simple, without any strange device or similar. It's like finding something familiar in an unfamiliar situation.
http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?boo
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Amazon: The Edge of Desperation
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I was expecting for this novella to be pretty explicit, Hank Edwards is once again one of those authors like Ryan Field and Gavin Atlas from whom female romance readers like me dug out stories when we started to look around for more, we were eager, we wanted more than the market gave us, and we pounced upon those poor male authors asking for romance... but they are erotic authors, and erotic authors mostly for men, what did they know about romance? Now, now, don't get your boxers in a bunch, men can write romance, and also a good romance, but these authors have first in mind the erotic part of the story, and then, maybe the romance. And if you read this novella by Hank Edwards you will understand what I mean, the two characters first connect on a physical level, and also in a quite primordial way, and then realize that perhaps there is something more than sex. Aaron Pierce, FBI special agent, is not at all happy to be assigned as babysitter for a important Homeland Security witness. Maybe to loosen up the tension before the mission, he decides to prowl the night clubs and takes home a young nice man for a bit of no strings attached sex. The young man is willing but a bit skittish... a good romance hero will woo him and maybe let him go... Agent Pierce (who BTW lied about his name), almost forces the man to bed. All right, the young man enjoys every minute, and he is also pretty easy and cool afterward, but still, I felt a bit of uneasiness. My gentle romance reader mind probably would have been appeased by a somewhat more tactful behavior of Pierce, and instead he is all for the attitude, big bam, good, all right, thank you. And poor young man is soon forgotten. At this point the romance reader thinks, well, why you presented him to me, if he is not the true love of Pierce? Ding dong romance reader, this is NOT a romance, this is sex, this is hot monkey sex behind the sheets, this is an alternative to Pierce to do an assolo under the shower... cute young man is NOT Pierce's true love.
Innocent romance reader is not so much convinced by the theory, but she continues to read. Pierce now meets Mark, the man he has to protect, and the trouble start from moment one. They have to run away, and they cannot trust no one, not even Pierce's FBI colleagues. Big bad special agent Pierce is in trouble, and cute and pretty witness Mark helps him: they can hide in Mark's ex-lover apartment, it's empty and his ex-lover is out of town. Mmm, don't know if in a real dangerous situation this could have been a good solution, but it gives to Pierce and Mark the chance to be in close proximity for a long period of time, and since it happens that also Mark is gay... but two factor prevent them to jump in bed as soon as they are alone (three if you count also the danger outside...): special agent Pierce has some reserves to be involved with a man he is supposed to protect, and Mark doesn't think that an handsome, strong man like Pierce is interested in him (yes, Mark sees Pierce in a different way than the romance reader... oh right, also Mark is a man!).
And so Pierce and Mark actually spend some time together talking and arguing, rather than having sex... and Pierce realizes for the first time that, maybe, he is interested in something more than sex! See?!? Romance reader is happy, it's a proof more than a bit of romance helps in life... Oh well, it's also true that the only thing that apparently Mark sees in Pierce is his handsome and big body (and big something else...), and it's not that they talk so much, but at least they end in bed AFTER sharing pieces of their life and not before.
Anyway, the sex is hot, very graphic and acrobatic, a lot of fluid exchange with hidden symbols ("I wanted to have something of you inside me when I left to get our food" there is something of primordial here...). So yes, Holed Up (even the title is all a plan...) is not for sure your pink glasses perspective romance, but I have to say that I liked it. It was a novella, so not so long, and its main purpose was to be sexy, but it has also a story, and Pierce has the chance to evolve, even that first anonymous sex encounter he had at the beginning, in the end served to its scope, it gives to Pierce a parameter to compare his new story with Mark, and it gives to the romance reader the chance to see the real Pierce, and to appreciate more how he will change.
http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Holed_Up-96
Amazon Kindle: Holed Up
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The starting point of this novella reminded me an old Italian movie "Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August" which was remade by Madonna in recent times, but I had in mind the old version. Two men, from different upbringing and education are brought together in a Pacific Island during WWII; their only purpose is to watch for Japanese movement in the sky and on the sea, and to tap into their signal. Mike Dabrowski, low-class sergeant of Polish origin, is conscript for the mission to avoid the carcer: he was caught in the act doing an illicit cigars black market; actually it was not a so bad crime, and I believe that this only gave to his superior the right excuse to force him to an unusual mission like the one to babysit a snotty professor for three months. Mike is not the classical hero, strong and essential, he is more a good for the moment hero, one that do the best he could day after day, without planning the future. It's not even since he doesn't believe to have a future, it's more that he has never thought so far. Mike is not a bad man, but truth be told he doesn't excel in the mind compartment. Anyway he has some preconceptions on love and what is right and what is wrong, mainly due to his catholic upbringing, but he is also ready to let them apart when presented with the chance to taste the forbidden fruit, sex with a man. Mike is not even new to have feelings for a man, when he stops to think about it, he reminds his strong youth friendship with a guy who resembles a bit his professor.
James Hamilton is a Jewish mathematician who unlucky him knows the Japanese language, and since he is also a conscientious objector, he is offered with a chance to avoid the military service: doing his time in a Pacific Island translating Japanese codes. Actually of James we don't know so much, Mike starts from the beginning insinuating about his sexual preferences, but James does nothing to back that idea. He feigned no interest whatsoever for Mike, letting the man boil in his broth till the moment he is him to make the first move; at that point, James unveils to be the cleverer of the two, and obtains the things how he like them... Mike is quite played around, and I don't believe he realizes it. But all in all it's Mike's character that shine, and James remains a bit undertone, we don't really know for sure his reasons and dreams.
Putting the two men in a desert island easier a bit the author who can avoid almost all the implications of an homosexual relationship in the '40, if not for the ending that, truth be told, let me a bit perplexed... I wouldn't mind to see the two deal with the society. But I believe this is not the purpose of this novella, above all since the length of the book doesn't allow it.
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Cover Art by Marci Gass
This is a classical thriller story but with the hand of a woman in the doing, and so it doesn't lack of romantic elements. BUT this doesn't mean that the thriller part is not strong and cold, but it's a neat cold, not bloody and messy like sometime it's if the writer is a man. Sorry, but I'm really convinced that you can recognize the hand of a woman or that of a man, as I'm convinced that there are "limbo" zones where it's almost impossible to distinct. In this case I felt the hand of the woman when the characters got sentimental, when they share their feelings, when their dreams all in all convoy in having a suburb home with a dog in the back garden. Or maybe this is only the ordinary and the thriller author I read in the past lacked in describing it.Jack is the good guy of the story, probably the only one. He is a surgeon in Baltimore, a divorced man who realized later in his life that he prefers men over women, and he is a so good guy that he managed to get a friendly divorce and rebuilt a life of his own. Now he is quite the workaholic type, even if sometime he indulges in his pleasure. He has not a bad life, and probably with time, he will also improve it, adding the above-mentioned home and dog, and maybe also a partner. But all of this crashed down when Jack witnesses to a murder and he is the only one who can recognize the killers. He is taken into custody waiting for the trial, and relocated in another city... all his life is shattered and he has no hope to regain it.
Enter D, an hit man with a personal code of behavior: he only kills people who deserve it. Since he is the better in the field, he can choose, and what he doesn't want to do he passes on. But this time he can't refuse, he is blackmailed into killing Jack. Only that when D meets Jack, he really isn't able to kill the man, the innocence of the man is clear in his eyes and D is tired to let people die due to an event that isn't their fault. So D turns from enemy to protector, and he appoints himself the only protector of Jack. He kidnaps the man and runs all over the United States with his precious load.
The two men are at the opposite: Jack is open and friendly, without any secret in his past, who he is, is plainly displayed in his face. Jack is not a temperamental man, he is quiet and serene, he is the classical doctor that inspires you trust. Jack is upright and trusting, he doesn't hide his feelings and he is easily hurt since he is so open. But Jack is also unable to hold a grudge and he is the perfect partner for D since he is able to see behind the facade D presents to the world.
D is not cold and aloof as he seems; he doesn't even choose to be who he is, someone else at the beginning of all made that choice for him, and D followed the path it was presented to him. Times ago, D probably had the same dreams of Jack, of an home and a family in some nice places. Then a tragic fate, something he has no guilt of, shattered his world, and D claimed himself an avenger, and in his own particular way, he tries to correct the fate for whom has no guilt. And sometime he kills the one he judges guilty.
Where Jack is gay, and has already made his path out of the closet, D is still in the limbo. He is not actually in denial, since he simply excluded any personal relationship from his life, both with women than men. When he meets Jack, he is more drawn by the innocence of the man than by the man himself. In a way, their relationship is another joke of the destiny, since probably D would have fallen in love of a woman, if she was as innocent as Jack, but since he met Jack, Jack is the object of his love. D becomes Jack's protector, and Jack becomes all D's world, from not feeling anything, D passes to feel even to much, and all his love is poured on Jack.
As I said there is a lot of emotion flowing throughout the novel, and also some very nice sex scenes, but there is also a good level of tension, and the novel is also very long, and so we have also the chance to reach an apex, slowly come down, and suddenly reach another apex, all the time with some new details and events that maintain a fastpacing rhythm.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/current
Amazon Kindle: Zero at the Bone
Amazon: Zero at the Bone
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Cover Art by Paul Richmond
Turner and Turner: One Good Turn by Amber GreenThis is the second book I read by Amber Green and for the second time I have the feeling that I'm plunged in the middle of the story, with all a past behind me that I have to rebuild collecting clue here and there and a bigger future ahead of me that I'm reaching at a fast pace and I haven't the brakes.
Kendall Turner (KT) is the spoiled son of a very wealthy family; I haven't really understood if his family his old wealth or mafia style, in a way or the other, KT is the black sheep, the gay boy who tried to loose himself in alcohol and the only thing he gained was a bad experience in jail, an experience that his rich father didn't save him from since he had to learn his lesson. After that big demonstration of fatherly love, KT decided that he would be better alone and took his separate way. He is now a quite complicated young college professor, with a strange circle of friends, not exactly a perfect life, but at least it's his own life. Only that someone decides to blackmailing his family using a video in which KT plays the unaware role of porn star, and the family decide to let the matter in the hand of Turner Kendall (Turn) Scott (yes same name, reverse order), the poor cousin who entered the family when KT was still a child and became not only his father's favorite, but also the protagonist in all KT's teen wet dreams. Turn disappeared for a long period when KT was still a teenager, but now it's again inside the family, and once again the perfect son for his father, something nor KT or his brother Dean manage to be.
I believe that the instability that permeates the book is a mirror of the instability that is KT's life. KT seems unable to stay put, he is always in an hurry, probably he is running away both from his family than from himself. Neither Turn, who is maybe the only constant in KT's life, is able to stop him, and KT has the uncanny ability to always end in some trouble or dangerous situation. KT is not exactly a weak man, he is quite clever and able to collect all the clues he needs, but his inner unsteadiness causes him to put himself and the people around him in danger. Turn seems to be a nice character, but actually I have the feeling that he is not fully developed, we learn something of important about him practically at the end, and we have not enough space to fully understand it and its implication: is Turn gay? is he in love with KT?
This is only a first part of a series and due to the open ending, I believe that also the second book will focus on KT and Turn, and so probably we will have time to better understand Turn.
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The Men of Smithfield: Gobsmacked by L.B. GreggMark and Jamie are in-live lover in a small town where everyone knows everyone. Problem is that no one had the courage to tell Mark that perfect boyfriend Jamie was cheating around and Mark finds out in the worst way, unexpected coming back home and finding Jamie screwing someone on their bed. At first Mark doesn't react but then, as in a perfect play setting in a small town, he attacks Jamie during mass in the main church ot the town... telling about washing your dirty laundry in public...
But the cheating is not the only thing that Jamie was doing to Mark, he finds out that his bank accounts are cleaned out and that they didn't pay the last months rent, and this means that Mark is also without an home thanks to dear Jamie. Among all this disaster the only rock for Mark is old friend Tony, the local cop and his first crush. Actually this is a point I didn't understand so well: apparently Mark had a crush on Tony when he was 14 years old and Tony 17. Tony obviously didn't act upon that crush since they were too young, but then, when they were both adults, and Tony was available, Mark wasn't. Worst, when Tony was in need of a friend due to some family issue, Mark instead started a relationship with cheating Jamie, a man that no one in their circle of friends seem to like. I can only think that Mark is a bit selfish, not too much mind you, but he is the type that first of all think on himself and what he wants and likes, and then, if what he wants and likes is in common with his possible partner, only then he is willing and ready for a relationship. Mark is the classical man who needs a caretaker, he is not at all the strong side of a relationship, he is not able to take reasoned decision, he tends to have emotional reactions. Tony is perfect for him, since he was young, he always takes his decision considering all the consequences, and he always puts Mark's interests in front of his own. Maybe I would like for him to be a bit more selfish (on the contrary of Mark ;-) ), and for example, interferes when Mark started a relationship with a man that was obviously wrong for him.
Anyway, as first attempt from a new author, the book is nice and easy to read. Maybe Tony should have more space to develop, but you have to consider that the book is only 140 pages long.
http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/more-h
Amazon Kindle: Gobsmacked (Men of Smithfield)
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Sincerely I don't remember if the first book in Dragon & Fenyx series had the same strong yaoi influence, but in Swordbrothers it's quite clear; Flame and Storm left together to build their own life as outcast and the first step is to tighten their bond with a sexual encounter, and here is where I felt the yaoi influence, since Flame is a virgin, and a bit the blushing and big eyes virgin type. Another thing that I noticed is that this second book is a bit more light and happy, maybe since the sex scene is the beginning scene and the sex helps to lighten the mood of the story.The book is divided in two part, the first one serves to build the basis of Flame and Storm's relationship, to help them to know each other in the most intimate possible way, and the second one to build the basis of their future clan, including in their little circle two new member, Water and Heart who will bring with them other people, in a pyramidal chain. Plus Flame and Storm befriend an all female clan (a nice add to the story, with some interesting characters, even if they have only small roles).
Usually I'm not very fond of the futuristic setting, above all when it's an Apocalypse Now theme, since they are almost all "cold" story, sad and tragic. Swordbrothers is a bit different, maybe since the sex is good and so it gives another side to the story, more joyous; the introduction of new characters allows to see a future; the sad and tragic aspect is not all forgotten, in particular in the ending, but I believe there is not to worry, this is a continuous series on the same main characters, and so probably we will see more of them in the future books, don't forget that Flame is a Fenyx, and the phoenix re-births from its ashes.
http://shadowfirestore.com/index.php?mai
Series: Dragon & Fenyx
1) Called by Power: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/25173
2) Swordbrothers
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All right THIS is a menages, no dancing around the matter, no trying to find some hidden meanings, this is a pure and simple polyamour menages. And probably I wouldn't have read it if, first it wasn't the fifth story in a series I already read all (and one of the stories it's even an erotica M/F), second it wasn't from an author I like. For me these two very important details since even if I like to try new authors, I'm also a faithful reader and like to follow the things, so really, it would have been impossible for me not to read it. Said like that, it seems almost that reading this book was almost like take a bitter medicine, and instead I have to say that it's a nice surprise.And the nice surprise is not determined by the fact that this is a menages where the M/M side of the couple is stronger than the M/F, but exactly for the opposite thing. Sasao and Kyoru have a very good marriage, two children and a good life; Kyoru's career in the ChildsPrey group is steady and fruitful and Sasao's career as actress is taking a dive toward success. Always would be perfect if not for the fact that Kyoru is bisexual (yes, great taboo, a bisexual man!) and after years of monogamous relationship he is starting to miss something. He always likes to have sex with his wife, but he misses that edge he had while having sex with a man. And the problem is that temptation is there in the house for him, in the beautiful and sexy body form of their bodyguard, Ken.
After being hired to protect Sasao from a stalker, Ken remained with the family as factotum, from security to nanny services all in once. Why a man with his credentials accepted to do that is quite clear: Ken was banished by his family when he admitted that he was bisexual, loosing not only his family support but also his work in the military Corps. And now he probably enjoys to be near a real family, even if he is not part of it. I believe that Ken is not particularly drawn by one of the two, Sasao or Kyoru, he is attracted by them as a whole. They represent what Ken wants but he is not willing to break them as a couple to reach what he wants.
And then there is Sasao. Sasao loves Kyoru, point. She can admire Ken as a beautiful person, both in body than soul, but she do that as if she was admiring a piece of art, she will never even consider to betray her husband. But loving him as she does, she comprehends that her husband has needs that she is not able to satisfy, even with sex toys. Since Kyoru loves her back, and Ken respects her, it's up to Sasao to be the pointer for their relationship. It's a subtle play of balance in this story, and probably it wouldn't have worked, if, as I said, the M/F part of the menages was not so strong. Another thing that allows things to work is that Ken isn't inclined towards one of the two more than the other.
Another warning to the readers (I need to give that since probably there are more M/M minded people between my friends than not), most of the sex scenes are between Sasao and Kyoru (and it's obvious since I said that they are the stronger in the menages), there are then some solo, and only a polyamour scene. But my opinion is that all of them are very nice and well done.
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Series: ChildsPrey
1) Orange Moon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/52523.h
2) Winter Song: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/34132.h
3) Under a Silver Moon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/10144
4) Secret Moon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/19745
5) Their Lover
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Warrior Prince is the sequel of a previous novella by J.P. Bowie, part of a two novellas anthology, Slaves to Love: Erotic Love Stories of Ancient Rome. Shame on me I didn't read the previous book, but the author took pity to the like me, and wrote a brief but comprehensive prologue. And since I'm a total looser with happily ever after, I'm almost happier like that, since now I know that in the first novella Lucius and his lover Callistus were separated, and I probably wouldn't like at all to read a story with such an end.So at the beginning of this new book (novel lenght, so we have plenty to read), Lucius, a young capuan teacher, is mourning his lost lover Callistus; Lucius is from a patrician bu impoverished family and three years before he had the chance to meet a rebellious gladiator, Callistus, a Gaul who joined the Spartacus' mutiny. Lucius helped Callistus, but above all he fell in love; probably Callistus didn't want to subject Lucius to an unknown destiny and after an heartbreaking night of passion, he left. There is also the "little" problem that, at home, Callistus is a "prince", the only heir to the command of his tribe, and so he must marry and produce an heir. And Lucius, on his side, is the only caretaker of his family, a widow mother and two little sisters, and he can't leave them alone. So Callistus can't stay in Capua, and Lucius can't go in Gallia, the only reasonable solution is to break their relationship.
After three years, Lucius has seen the three marriages of both his sisters and his mother, and after "selling" himself to a rich merchant, he has also paied off his father's outstanding debt. So now he is free to do as he likes, and what he likes is to find his Gaul lover. In his quite naive mind, the perfect solution is to join the Roman's army which is fighting with the people of Callistus. After seducing, or being seduced, by a Roman's general, he joins the Army in a rather privileged position, but still he is not far from danger, and infact, before rejoining with his lover, he will have to go through some trouble. But all in all Lucius has a good star that watch upon him, and truth be told, he is luckier than a lot of other people in his same situation.
This novel has quite an epic feelings, battlefield and gladiators, starcrossed lovers and betrayal, it has all the ingredients for a good historical romance. It has not perhaps the cruelty that sometime I found in stories setting in the same period, even if some events that happen around Lucius are far from being "nice", but all in all, as I said, Lucius is lucky enough to always get out of trouble with little inconvenient. Maybe since Lucius arrives to me like a man willing to "compromise"; he has his ideals, and he puts love in front of all, but he is not an intolerant man, he doesn't see things in black and white. For example, he whored himself to pay his father's debt, but he saw it like a barter and remained friend with the counterpart. And when he falls in captivity, even if for a brief time, he faces that time with willingness and openmindness, even if he has not idea of how he will escape, if ever he will have the chance. Even in his private life, he has the same attitude, he knows that, if he wants to have a life in common with Callistus, he has to consider a possible future wife for his lover (even if we don't read of it...), but he again faces that chance as it is, an unavoidable event; and it's like that, the readers with "modern" mind has to not forget that this is an historical romance, and even if maybe homosexual lovers are seen in a different way in Roman Empire, there are still the bound of family to be followed.
Even if the story is often told from different points of view (Lucius, Callistus and even Flavius, the man Lucius seduces), it's Lucius' voice the one that is stronger. Callistus comes out like a loyal man, both to his people that to Lucius, but probably he would sacrifice his love for Lucius (but not Lucius, mind you), for the good of his people. He is a total unselfish man and he tends to protect Lucius, but Lucius is quite a stubborn man and tends to not stay where he is put.
There is also a lot of sex, very detailed and direct: not fancy words or embellishment, when Lucius wants something (since usually he is him that prompts) he tends to take it as soon and as much he can... there is even a sex scene soon after Lucius received a mild concussion on his head, talking about slow down things! But well, in such time of danger, you reach for what you can when you can...
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Usually I don't like to give up a story, but in this case I'm allowed... First time I heard of latino man Antonio and his blind lover Gabriel was perhaps two years ago. I read a short story by Laura Baumbach, South of Border, no more than a scene in an hot tube, but really hot (as most of Laura Baumbach's books). I don't know, probably it's a fetish, but I always am fascinated by love stories involving a blind partner... there must be a lot of trust on one side to allow someone near you when you are blind, but if you find the right partner, I believe the resulting feeling are much more intense. And so I was waiting for the longer novel the author was writing with the same pair.The story actually starts at the beginning, when Gabriel is still a sighted San Francisco Police Department undercover agent. During his two years as undercover agent, but really even before, Gabriel, alias Giovanni, only allows himself one night stands and possibly well far from the circle he gravitates in: even if in San Francisco, mafia is not a word which match well with gay. And so when one of his one night stand, Miguel, reveals to be the lieutenant of the Mexican drug lord Gabriel's boss is dealing with, Gabriel is a bit disconcerted. How can he be so attracted by a villain? He should be the good guy and not mixing with the evil guys... But maybe Miguel is not so bad boy as he appears.
The first part of the book is good, I really like the way how Giovanni and Miguel met in a club and that first raw sex scene is almost an housemark for Laura Baumbach's books, but truth be told, I like much the second part; it's all over all pure hot romance, but also mushy feeling, and in some part it almost made me cry. How Antonio deals with a wounded Gabriel, how he manages to pull out all the protective layers of the man, to bare his soul... and how Gabriel leans on Antonio, without for this being weak or dependent: it takes a real man to understand when it's the case to call for help.
So sorry to the thriller lover, but I read this book more like a very good romance. Oh, don't worry, there are also the car racing scene, the shootings in the night, and also the classical scene in the warehouse, but I manage to read them in a bit to hurry to my romance scenes... instead, you, thriller lover, could linger on them as you want, you will have plenty.
As for the characters, Laura Baumbach confirms her love for a good Alpha male, Antonio is the classical type: it reminds me one of that chocolate with the dark and hard exterior but with a sweet and molten inside. Perhaps a bit different from the other Alpha males' mates I was used, is Gabriel, but not too much: it's true that Gabriel, as an agent, is independent and strong, but in his private life he prefers not to be the dominant side of the couple; he prefers to be dominate, he fights against his mate, but then, if the mate is worth of it, he surrenders with joy.
The book is the first in a new series with the same characters; good thing since they are both really worth of some more books. And then I still have to read about Christmas at Antonio's family.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/mex
Amazon: Mexican Heat #1 Crimes&Cocktails Series
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There various type of futuristic romance, but I have in mind three main genre: the one I tagged Back to the Future, in which the futuristic setting resembles a past world, where people are back to living as in the eighteen century or even Middle Ages; then there is the Apocalypse Now setting, where the world that we actually know doesn't exist no more and people lives in an eternal war zone; finally there is the aseptic future, where people are deprived of emotions, where every single planet, or star, or moon in the universe is a "new" colony, but where the real world is only a cherished memory. Both stories in this collection fall in this last setting. Dark Robe Heart: Dark Robe Society 1 by Jason Edding: Jack Harrow is the endless clone of himself. He is more than four hundred years old, but only his brain remembers it, his body is sparkling new, designed to please the whims of his owner. Jack Harrow is a very wealthy man, with the chance to live forever, how many lifes he likes, but he is not happy. Being immortal has an high price and Jack is not so sure that he is still willing to pay it. But leaving the Dark Robe society is like signing your death sentence. Jack is running away, trying to reach a new colony by the name of Europa: everything in this story has a long lost memory flavor, even the name of the planet that could be Jack new land (how strange, in the past when people went searching for a New World they were leaving Europa, and here instead Jack is searching to reach it). During his travel he meets Edge, a young cadet that is travelling toward Europa to start his term of service; like the new life Jack is searching, Edge is new and somewhat innocent, he tickles feelings in Jack that he has never felt in a long time, maybe he never felt. Problem is that Jack knows that there is an assassin out there sent to kill him, and he doesn't want to involve Edge in his run for life. The story is strange, for how much aseptic is the world in which is setting, and detached is Jack with this world and his life, when Jack and Edge are together, they are even too much "down and dirty"; they do things that only in a porn movie you can find... I wonder if this is a metaphor... when you are so detached from your true feeling, you can only feel through your body, and more physical stimulus you can find, more real will feel what you are doing?
The Bright Side of Midnight by Angela Fiddler: this is almost a tragedy; a man whom father and brother betray the colony in which they were leaving, returns back to that same colony to study a virus killing the miners. The man who finances his research is the same man who wants to find his brother at every cost. And Tavish, our hero, falls in love with the man's son, Jordan. But as in all tragedy worthy of this name, also Jordan is dying from that same illness and to delay the unavoidable, he had become addicted to the Dope, a drug that has the power to modify the mood. Who is really Jordan? What does he want from Tavish? Is he another weapon in the hand of his father? There are a lot of characters that came out from this story, Jordan, Fox (Jordan's father's pet slave), Thomas (Tavish's brother), even Royal, Tavish's former lover, but of all of them, the one that really doesn't come out is Tavish. He is a reclusive hero, very few time we share his feelings and emotions, and I really didn't understand his reason to come back to the mining colony. The story ends quite abruptly, something is explained but a lot of points are still pending. I have the feeling that the author is not yet finished with these characters.
Truth be told, both stories have not a real ending point, but I know that Jason Edding has ready a new chapter in his series. Of the two, his story was the one that was heavier on the futuristic setting, he also gave a lot of details to explained the past story of his characters, and the reason why the world is like that; Angela Fiddler's story instead is almost ageless, it could be well being set even in an historical era and still sounds the same: the reason why of its existence it was not the futuristic setting, but the betrayal that lies inside the inner circle of a family, a story old like the time.
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With Touchdown, the series about the action figures come alive ends: Brice, the last of the toy squad, has his own mission to accomplish. Brice was a soldier in the Balkan war, this was quite a recurrent characteristic for all the previous stories, all of them were soldiers in different war time, and story by story the period was always more recent, first Vietnam, second Uganda, third Desert Storm and last Balkan territory. Another current characteristic was that the companion they found in their third life (from human to toy and again from toy to human), is similar to them in ambition and life. Brice's partner is the last of the friends who own The Fantastic Five, a comic book shop; but Van's expectation in life is to come back to law school and become a lawyer; same as Brice wanted to do, before enlisting in the Army. So when Brice comes back to the world, it's only natural that their expectations correspond and their paths become one.Since Van was the man that in the previous books supplied fake identities to his friends' lovers, he is not surprise for him to find out that the last action figure is now a fully man. He has also no problem to benefit of the sexual favors Brice is more than willing to give him. His only problem is that he feels guilty for his desire to come back to school and let his friends down with the shop: a very common problem in a very uncommon and fantasy situation. Nice contrast for the plot.
As I said in the past, the Live Action Hero series is pure fan, you haven't to find deep meaning and neither try to find all the reasons (how Van can supply fake identities to four men without any apparently problems, why all these men don't try to contact their family, even if they are dead for the world, at least to know how they are doing...). They are all little enjoyable escapades from reality.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
Series: Live Action Hero
1) Mission: Carnal: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/35418
2) Mission: Raw: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/41947
3) Mission: Possession: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/49000
4) Mission: Touchdown
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Look at that cover: no naked chests, no passionate embraces, no kissing with glorious flags on the background... an old boot and a piece of camouflage cloth. What can you understand from that cover? that this is an hard book without romance? That you will find sex but not love? That the two main characters are all manly and without feelings? yes and no, yes and no, yes and no...Sergeant Alex Turner is a scarred man, not only in body but also deep in his soul. He trusted a person, a woman, his wife and he was frustrated. Coming home from a mission that almost cost him his life, he didn't find a warm embrace and a comforting body, he found the cold refusal of a woman that couldn't see past his marked body. And Alex turned for the embrace toward the Army, a family that never disappointed him, even if he didn't expected to find also the comforting body. Even if he doens't show it, Alex has mental scars that run deeply than the visual ones: he probably thinks to have failed, that he didn't deserve to be still alive, that he now doesn't deserve to have a normal life and to feel pleasure again. These are the barriers he has in his mind, but also his body has some idea for his own: wounded in what are the most intimate and fragile parts of a man, he can't react to a gentle touch, since it's too light for the shield he built around himself, the reaction can only be forced, through a strong and authoritative touch.
Sergeant Tom Warren is Alex's buddy friend, the man with whom he spends all his free time, the one that probably helped him to fill a void. But Tom can't hide no more: he doesn't want Alex as a friend, he wants the man in every way he can. Tom enlisted when he was 16 years old, when he wasn't meat or fish, when he wasn't a man. Growing up, Tom realized that he preferred men, and in way or another he always fulfilled his desires. But now his mind, and body, wants Alex, and Alex's is not available... or so he thinks. When a fist fight with his friend over the discovery that Tom is gay, ends in a burst of unexpected sex, Tom and Alex have to find a way to go on.
Alex accepts Tom's attentions like an unavoidable thing, like something he searches only when he can no more deny his body, a body that has decided to respond only to Tom's. Tom accepts Alex's unwilling surrender like the only way to be with the man he desperately wants. Is it love? maybe. Tom interprets his feelings as lust over Alex's body, better over Alex's scarred body: the scars for Tom are like symbols of Alex's strenght, the testimony that he survived; he almost feels guilty to be so aroused by something that witnesses Alex's pain. In a way Alex, who unlike Tom's never admits to be gay, is more sincere, since he instead admit that it's not Tom's body that turns him on, it's Tom, apart from the fact that he is a man, or gay, or whatsoever.
There is only one thing that I don't like of the book: that it's too short (142 pages in print version)! While reading faster than I can to see what it happened next, I was also thinking, or damn, I'm at mid book, it's almost finished! and I would liked for it to have still more to read. And I forgot to mention that obviously, the military part of the story is convincing and heroic, all male and proud and adventures filled... but well, I'm a romantic at heart and so I was led astray from the romance!
http://www.lulu.com/content/5055168
Amazon: Her Majesty's Men
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The third live action hero is ready to find his man. In the previous two books, the two real life men who find their lovers in a action figure comes to live, didn't know what was expecting them. In the third book, Hugh instead knows that his two friends found love with a paranormal help from the Toymaker, and he is torn between hope and reality. When he repairs his own action figure, Talon, deeply inside he is hoping for it to come alive, and so when it happens, he is not so surprised.Talon was a soldier during the Desert Storm in 1990; where his fellow soldiers didn't realize that after their death they were turned in action figure, Talon knew that and in a way he was right with it: before enlisting in the army he was a model, and so, from playing in front of the camera, to play for a child, things weren't changed much. But one thing he missed, having sex. So when he comes alive again, he has only one though in mind, and Hugh is more than willing to help him. But after that, what will be Talon's role in real life? Will he be always only a "toy", a pretty face no one care really for? This time Talon wants something more, and maybe Hugh is not the man for giving him that.
First of all, let me remind you that this series is pure fun, so we haven't to find deeply meaning in it; but said that, the third chapter in the series has a bit more meaning than the others: maybe since both characters are aware that they are living something magic, and even if they don't know how all it happens, they are more prepared than their friends.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
Series: Live Action Hero
1) Mission: Carnal: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/35418
2) Mission: Raw: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/41947
3) Mission: Possession
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The book tells Ian and Devlin's story from 1919 to 1924, the years during which Ireland fought for its independence from England. Ian is an apothecary apprentice of only 19 years old; he doesn't really care for war or kill, he wants to become an apothecary and make his own life in the world. Ian is a quite guy, probably even more quite since it's years that he realized that he prefers the company of men, but he has never acted upon his preferences. He tries to be as average as possible and to not be seen in the crowd. But when he witnesses to the assassination of a man and his old mother in the street to the hand of English soldiers, he cannot hide no more. He offers his help to the IRA army and among the brotherhood he finds Devlin.Devlin is only one years older than Ian, and they know each other enough to greet on street but not enough to be considered friends, they are on different level in life; Devlin's mother unofficially has a lot of "boyfriends" who visit her at night, and on hers track, Devlin started to find some "odd" works at night in the near cities, with married men in dark alley.
While Ian considers himself homosexual, Devlin at first approaches Ian more with a friends with benefits attitude: Devlin likes both women and men, and in this moment he likes Ian. But he knows that the lad, as he calls him, is way more inexperience than him, and even if they deepen their relationship to an intimate level, Devlin is reluctant to be fully involved, more for Ian's good than anything else. But more the years pass and the war worsens and more both men realize that they are now not only friends and fellow soldiers, but also lovers.
Despite passing through really nasty moments, Devlin and Ian are really young; they face the independence war with more heart than brain, they are not warriors, sometime I read them like children with adult dresses. Both of them follow something bigger than them, and they are really lucky to always come out alive; they are not hero characters, but more supporters.
The love story between them is nice, the more romantic minds should close the eyes in front of Devlin's side profession, something he is forced to bring on sometime more during his relationship with Ian, he really has no choice; but I think that it respects his character and the time, sincerely it's just enough of a pink glasses prospective for the two to be together, without being also too moralist. Maybe sometime I found the sex a bit too extreme (nothing fancy mind you): too much position other than the missionary and too much words in bed... I don't know, but sometime it felt forceful.
All in all a very nice and easy book to read, with enough historical details which prove that the author has more than a passing interest in the matter, and a medium long novel that allows plenty of time for the reader to enjoy the characters.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/current
Amazon Kindle: Irish Winter
Amazon: Irish Winter
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The book is not very long and it's more sweet than erotic, but it has also an analytic glare on a very delicate matter.Tony is gay and he is a marine; the best of the marine, since he really loves the Corps. When all his gay friends said that he was nut, he went for his path and enrolled. And when he was sent in Iraq he went and fought... and got wounded. But losing a leg was not the only injured he has, only the most visible. Now that he is no more a marine, Tony doesn't know who he is.
When he was in hospital, he dreamed about his friend and lover George, but also George is a marine, and a crippled lover is not on his plans for the future. So when Tony most needs a loving hand, he is alone. Not all alone, truth be told. He has his sister Claire, and his sister is not a woman who lets go. She pushes him and at the end she hires a physical therapist, Marcus.
Marcus is a wet dream for Tony; he is handsome, tender and caring. He is always there for Tony, pushing him in every way, also in a sexual way. Not that Marcus explicitly hints something sexual with Tony, but having near a so fine man is enough of a spur for Tony to always doing better. Maybe if he is good enough, Marcus will notice him.
As I said the story is not very long, and maybe is a bit rushed in the second part. But all in all I liked it; I like Tony's attitude, true at first he tries to hide, but it's only natural; but then the strong man inside of him, the proud marine, raises his head and also when all seems to crash again around him, he doesn't let go. And this time is not for the feeble hope of love, but for himself.
It's an enjoyable personal story, since all the book is about Tony. Marcus is a very nice character, but he is a side character; we know very little about him, his reasons are only hinted, but not developed. We can only guess that he is very unselfish and easy to be hurt, despite his gruff external look.
http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=8
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Jack Ballam is a secret agent for the Australian government. He has not a by the book past, he was a mercenary and lived on the edge for a lot of time, but then one man made him an offer he couldn't refuse: O'Brien had the mission to renovate the Australian Federal Intelligence Service and to do that he was recruiting the best men. Jack was one of them, and O'Brien was willing to go over a lot of things a normal Government structure would not allow, like the fact that Jack was gay. Not that O'Brien was thrilled by the idea, but now what was a problem could be an asset.O'Brien asks Ballam to seduce Tane Canton. Tane is the former lover of a paid assassin the ASIF is trying to lure and Tane is the perfect bait; Hale is a psychopathic that can't suffer someone tries to poach in his territory, and even if Tane dumped him one years before, probably if he knows that someone else is interested in the man, he will return on the scene. Tane is a former model who is trying the actor career and his first main role is in an action movie. Ballam obtains the job of technical adviser on the set and so the chance to be near Tane.
When Ballam at first accepts the mission, he sees Tane only as a pretty face, someone who is very good in selling himself, and probably someone with a tough skin. It will be a pleasure for Ballam to seduce the man, and if pleasure and business coincide, even better. But when Ballam has the chance to know better Tane, he realizes that the man was used and mistreated by Hale, and he is still pretty fragile. Ballam realizes also that, when he will bring on his mission, he will destroy Tane, since the young man will be used another time.
Hale was not the first man to profit of Tane. A foster kid, he had very bad experiences in the past, and he needed to find someone to lean on for love and comfort; he relied his trust on Hale and was deeply wounded. He is now starting to trust again with Ballam, and he will be shattered when the true will come out, since not only he is in love with Ballam, but also since the man lied to him; at first Tane didn't trust Ballam, and Ballam was very good in manoeuvring the man till Tane believed to be in the wrong.
I like how the author develops the relationship between the two main characters, it's sexy but not too much sugary; there is sex, but it's not very detailed, but this doesn't mean that it's not romantic or enjoyable. Both Ballam than Tane had very bad experience in the past with sex, and so it's only natural that they behave like if they are walking in a mine field. I like also the fact that the main sex scene are not described in the moment, but relived in flashback by Ballam in the aftermath.
The book is a good thriller novel with a bit of romance, but the romance component is enough to satisfy the lovers of the genre. At the same time is not so heavy to avert who instead prefer their thriller novel with less mushy elements.
http://waywardbooks.com/acatalog/index.h
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Reading a book by Bobby Michaels is an unique experience; sometime it seems to read an "how to do" text for inexperienced gay and sometime an ad campaign for gay rights, but above all you feel the author behind it. Bobby Michaels is well present in all his books, and what he writes is what he is. Don't try to analyze the book from a perfection point of view, don't try to question if what he writes is real or fantasy or too kinky to be available simply through a non pornographic book, when you open a Bobby Michaels' book, you have to know that you will read something that you haven't never read, unless you weren't one of his previous reader.There are two things that probably Bobby Michaels love, a gay man and a marine man, and in Weekend Leave he puts together both (like he did in The Veteran and For the Love of the Corps). Rick is a 22 years old Marine just back home from Iraq; a very clever and good guy when he was in high school, he chose to become a Marine to learn how to be a man. Don't get him wrong, Rick knew that he was gay, and he was quite all right with the idea, but he also knew that being gay will get him in trouble sooner or later, and he thought that learning the way of a Marine would help him. Plus he had a not so idilliac relationship with his family, and leaving as soon as possible it seemed a good idea: finding in the Corps the family he didn't have at home was a good perspective, and the recognition and pride in being a Marine would supply to the lack of enthusiasm in his real family for him and his life.
In the same neighbor where Rick lived and attending the same high school now there is Robby, an 18 years old living alone with his single mother. Robby is too clever for his own good; not having a fatherly figure at home, someone with whom speaks of sex and other manly things, Robby has learnt alone all it was necessary... also to hate the fact that he was gay since it made him a "stranger" in his own skin. No one around him actually ambushed Robby, but he is not comfortable with himself, and in this way he cuts off himself from the rest of the world.
When Rick comes back home for a leave, he has the bad surprise to find his parents gone for the all weekend, but the good one of a Robby guy who offers him to spend the weekend with him. Robby is shy and tender, but also friendly and loving; Rick falls hard and soon for the boy and he will spend the weekend in teaching new tricks to him (here the part of the "how to do" text book...). In two days Robby and Rick do more things then most of the couples do in an entire life, included speaking of love and a future together.
Love and future are another constant in Bobby Michaels' work; even if down and dirty, the sex between his characters is always imbued of love, and love is the most powerful aphrodisiac. Especially when he writes about young characters, they claim love aloud and without fear; his characters are always so sure of their feelings, so blind to the ugliness of the world if only they can have that love.
I stopped long ago to question why I like so much this author; it's impossible to say, and questioning with friends made me doing very bad figure, since what for me is impossible, for other is a normal thing of life. The world is good since it's different, and I know that out there there is who will love this book, and who will cordially hate it. It's right, but I hope you will love it.
https://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=8
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Brad is a 22 years old guy just out of 4 years of service in the Marine Corps. Stationed in Hawaii, he decided to take a break and visit San Francisco, believing the city the righ place to go for a gay man. Probably Brad hoped to find answers in the city and instead finds only other questions: who he is, who he wants to be?One night in a club, Brad is searching one more man to spend the night and maybe have also a free dinner, since he is living in a very tight budge. Brad is not digging for money, he will not hook up with the first man with a heavy wallet. Ron is slightly older, 32 years older and a bit strange. He doesn't speak much, but he is gentle in his way, and when he asks Brad to go home with him, the young man agrees.
Comes out that Ron is a very wealth man, living a life only few could afford: night snack at the Fairmont, buying a new Mercedes only to take a few days break in a cabin on Lake Tahoe, having lunch in yacth clubs all around California. After a night of joyous and careless sex, Ron drags Brad in an impromptu short travel, but more far they go from San Francisco, more cold Ron becomes, and more Brad is regretting to have postponed his fly back to Hawaii.
Brad is a young man who wants to find his place in the world. He probably believes that finding a man, a partner, will help him to find an anchor in this world. And so he is ready to fall for Ron, but Ron is not the right man to give stability to Brad. Ron himself has trouble to decide what he wants to be; he is not a bad guy, but he has never had the chance to deal with real life. He is ready to spend heavy money for dressing Brad up with shirts and shorts embroidered with Yacht Club logo, but then he questioned on buying socks and boxers. He is cool and aloof around his family, almost if he is ashamed of Brad, but then he kisses the boy having a nightmare.
Ron doesn't drive back Brad but neither does something to prevent him to go away; and Brad needs to be need, he needs to be accepted, he wants for the first time in his life to be open and comfortable in his skin, and being the "best friend" of Ron is not enough.
The book has all the right elements: young and handsome characters, one of whom a Marine (the fascination of a man in uniform, even if retired); dreaming world setting, where money, work and every day life are not a problem; a possible Cinderfella ending, even if the shoe fitting scene is deferred to another book. Brad is a character you could fall for, he so clearly needs to be loved, with his polite behavior and puppy eyes look. Probably Ron is not the man for him, for the two to work, Brad should take the reins of their relationship, and even if he is not the one with money, he should be the one in command... I'm quite interested in seeing how this relationship will move on...
Amazon Kindle: Sugar-baby Bridge
Amazon: Sugar-Baby Bridge
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This is the story of a menages, clear and simple.Greg and Phil are in a long-term relationship, 2 years as lovers and another 2 years as committed partner. It's a very good relationship, Greg a librarian, Phil a chief inspector for the local police department at Cambridge, England. Always seems perfect if not that lately Phil is pretty taken with his job, working odd shift. But Greg never has expressed any complaint, he is happy with their life; Phil is not a simple man to love, he is reserved and taciturn, but he is also very attentive; Greg feels cherished and protected when he is with his lover and on the other hand, Greg knows when his lover needs to be comforted and embraced in the warm arm of his lover and their house, to shut down the world outside.
Then arrives Jim, an American pilot who tests prototypes in the near Air base, recently moved on the neighbor. Jim is outspoken, friendly and handsome. And he has no problem to make clear to Greg that he finds him very attractive. Greg is not blind, and he can see all the good sides on Jim, but he really loves Phil and he would do nothing to compromise their relationship, neither a little kiss. And when at first Phil is sharp and detached toward Jim, Greg thinks that he can only offer a friendship to Jim, and better if the friendship arrives from both of them, Greg and Phil, without allowing to much private meeting between Greg and Jim. But then Phil's behavior changes, he seems to push the boundaries of Greg's fantasies, letting him imagine and taste how it could be with Jim and Phil together; not only that, Phil seems to desire that Greg builds something with Jim's only, trying to imagine what it would be if Phil was not there with him...
It's not simple to read of Greg's interest in Jim without reading it like a cheating on Phil, even if Phil is aware and consenting. There is never a moment in which Phil makes Greg feel guilty for what he feels for Jim, so I have not the feeling I used to when reading a menages, that one of the men is a cheater; but it's also true that Greg remains the "center" man, the link between Phil and Jim. True, the author tries all the possible combination, Phil & Greg, Phil & Greg & Jim, Greg & Jim, Phil & Jim, but she doesn't linger when the three are not together, making so stronger the menages and not the simple couple.
The feeling on the story is that Phil and Greg probably would be an happy couple also without Jim, Phil is the stronger man on whom Greg lean to, and Jim adds to the couple a new breeze, a bit of lightness, but probably Greg and Jim alone would not work out; for Greg, Jim would be a flirt, someone he could be happy for a bit, but not the man he would choose for a long-term relationship. In all this, Phil emerges as the master, the puppeteer of both Greg and Jim, but he reaches this rank without being nasty or aloof.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/fal
Amazon Kindle: Falling in Controlled Circumstances
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
The second story in the Live Action Hero series is a bit more sad and with more elements to link it to reality.Sawyer, like Mack, was a former soldier. He fought in the late '70 and when killed in action, he became a Live Action Figure, a toy for a kid along with other three former soldier. In life Sawyer was a Native American man with a penchant for adventures and men. As a toy he was an hell of a fighter, but obviously sex was his last thought. When also his "second" life come to an end, the Toymaker gives him another chance: to be again a man and to fulfill the need of love of Dean.
Dean is Adrian's colleague (Adrian was the main character in the previous book, now Mack's lover). Outside Dean is an happy-go-lucky man, always ready to a new adventure, both in life than in sex, but in reality he is a wounded man, who fears to love again. Probably only a strange and unreal situation like this could push Dean to let go his fear so soon.
As I said, this second book is a bit "more" real: there are a bit more information on Sawyer's past, and since the "surprise" of Sawyer being a toy is not so new, the reader maybe is more open to accept the story. And it's also a bit more "sad" since we know something about Sawyer's former life, and about how he, maybe, regrets of having lost his family.
Still remain a mystery why at first these men became toys and why turn back human... It's obvious that the series will end only when all the four former soldier will find their match. I believe that, to enjoy this series, you need to try to forget your rational mind, and start again to play with toys.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
Series: Live Action Hero
1) Mission: Carnal: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/35418
2) Mission: Raw
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Trick Of Silver (Calendar Boys - October) by Jamie CraigI have never been attracted to the idea of men in dress... I like my men fully men! But I can admit without problem that sometime a man in dress looks better than a woman (have you ever seen Priscilla the Queen of the Desert? Guy Pierce in dress? if yes, you know what I mean).
So this story begins with Darren, a paranormal special agent, a werewolf hunter, who has the mission to kill Aden, an alpha male framed with a string of recent kills. I actually haven't understood for sure why Darren should be dress as a woman on the Halloween party he goes to find Aden, since the purpose to lure Aden better as woman rather than as a man is not the reason; au countraire, Aden seems a lot more interested in Darren when he finds that he is a man, the hunt is more exciting in that way.
Anyway, Darren thinks at Aden as the enemy, an enemy to destroy, but he can't help to be attracted by the man. Darren is not a werewolf, but when he is near Aden, he is like a bitch in heat. Darren is not an helpless man, he can be lethal, but he is more than willing to give up the control to Aden. Is not a "sweet love" feeling, is hundred per cent lust: Darren forgets his mission and his beliefs for a chance to be on the same bed, or wherever else, with Aden.
Aden likes to play. He has a target in mind, but he has no problem to reach the target and at the same time play with Darren. And if something else comes out, even better, he can always do with another member in his pack. Again is not a question of love, love is never mention in the book, for real, not even one time in all the almost 90 pages!
Trick of Silver is a paranormal Halloween romp, full of sex, flesh and blood... enjoy your plate!
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Ca
Over Here (Calendar Boys - November) by Jamie CraigDuring the WWII, Harvey and Zach were all for each other: fellow soldiers, friends, lovers. But then Harvey was badly injured and sent home and instead Zach had to spend another 20 months fighting and killing. Knowing that the man he loved was alive somewhere was enough for Zach to go on, but when nor a letter or a message arrived from Harvey, Zach though that his friend had moved on with his life, a life in which loving Zach was not allowed.
Ten years after, during the first official Veterans Day, Zach decides that he is tired to try to forget the only man he loves and goes to find Harvey to at least have his official goodbye. What he finds his a man who has never moved on, a man who waits for every day to pass without a reason. Harvey is not married, he has not a family, he is alone. When Harvey went in war 12 years before, he knew that he preferred men, but in his little town he never had any chance to find his love. He found him in Zach, and when he was sent back at home, he thought that it was his fate, and that Zach should remain only an happy memory. Harvey thinks it's not possible for two men to openly love and live together, and what they had in the cold night during the war is the only thing they could have.
Zach is not of the same idea, he lives in a city and not in a small town like Harvey, and he knows that, if they don't flaunt too much their real relationship, they can have an happy life together.
I like this story, it's really sweet and tender. There is the sad memory of the war, but it's a distant thing and weights more the love between Harvey and Zach rather than the violence and the death. And I like both characters, the introvert Harvey, always weighting the things, always cautious, but ready to open to love; and I like Zach, dominant but gentle, not impulsive, but sure of what he wants and strong enough to reach for it.
The story is not long, less than 70 pages, but it's right and complete in its shortness.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Ca
Amazon: Calendar Boys, Vol. IV (October-December)
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Another story where the romance happens between two very normal men, not at all heroes. Tate is an old cowboy, how much old we don't know, but between 30 and 50 years old, and since 30 years old is too much young to feeling old and having problem in recover after sex, I'm inclined to believe that he is more near 40 years old. He lives alone in an old decayed ranch he struggles to save from taxes and he judges himself decrepit like the ranch.Dave is a young army man, probably mid-twenty or so. He is stationed in a base near Tate's ranch and meets him in the only pub around. At first Dave helps a drunken Tate to go back home without accidents and he has no second ends, but when he meets him again, he starts to have some naughty thoughts on the man. Only that Tate, even if friendly and always up to a mutual jerking, is a bit reticent to move the things on. Tate is very self-conscious both of the age difference, than of the different upbring; Tate is of the old way, he is not used to be touchy feeling with strangers, and for him Dave, who is not from the surrounding, is a stranger. And then maybe Tate has never had the chance to near a man for enough time to deepen the acquaintance.
Anyway the story between them, even if progresses slowly, it's fated to be steady and strong. So strong that, when Dave begins to have problem at the base, is even too simple to link it to the infringement of the "don't ask don't tell" policy.
The story is medium lenght, 128 pages, but it's quite good, even if sometime I feel like missing something; it's built of fast scene, not linked between them, and sometime not reading what happens between two scene let me with the feel that I'd like to know. For example, for Dave is starting to be a problem not move their relationship in a more intimate phase, and when finally Tate agrees to it, the scene ends letting me hanging on... and when starts again Tate is shopping for grocery!
All right, now I'm a little too picky since I also thinks that the story has a right lenght, just good to be read in a night without straining. Even more since it is expected a sequel at the beginning of the 2009.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
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Liam and Talon are both warriors but from different planet. Both far descendant from Earthian, they share common genes, but not the same customs. Talon is from Kury, a planet whose people are proud and fierce, and always in control; they have a strict code of honor, and they will kill themself to not break it. Kury's warriors are also extremely handsome, lean and lethal, similar to Native American warriors; when they meet their mates, they release pheromones to imprint the female and make her desires the warrior. Female... not male! When Talon realizes that he desires Liam, the only right thing to do is to commit an honorable suicide.Liam is a friendly and open big man. Jovial and always ready to a joke, he has a perennial smile on his face. He can admit without problem that Talon is an handsome man, only a blind wouldn't notice that, but Liam is a woman's man... or not? When faced with the perspective to lose his new-found fellow fly-fighter, Liam decides to do anything to prevent it... anything!
This is not a long book, less than 90 pages, but it's very funny. Usually a futuristic novel involving planet wars and aliens is strange, interesting, but not funny! Liam and Talon's story reminds me a bit Top Gun... who has not imagined that Iceman would be a better match (in bed of course!) for Maverick, rather than that insignificant woman? And so Liam and Talon play at wargames and in the bedroom with the same strenght and attitude: Talon all honor and duty, stick to tradition and hierarchy, and instead Liam is always ready to rebel and to make a risky move that in the end gain him the victory. So with Talon, Liam will risk and win.
Again a rather light and easy book, surely not a serious "futuristic" novel. Don't search for detailed description of new-worlds, but if you want a quite charming romp between the sheets... well try it.
http://www.ellorascave.com/productpage.a
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I was not sure to read this short story when it came out... true, it drew my attention since one of the main characters is named Elisa, with the italian spelling of the name :-), but this is also the big problem... There is a female main character and this means that this is a cheating story, or so I supposed. And from the blurb, I also understood that Elisa is a likeable character and so I was not at all convinced to read a story where a man cheats on her, even if the man has all his right reasons to do that.But I was surprised. The story is far less angst than expected, Elisa is a very nice character, but actually there is not a real cheating on her. I can't say more since the story is 16 pages long, and so it's easy to give it out with too much details. Let me only say that, if you have my same problems with cheating men or menages, in this story you wouldn't find any of it.
Max and Elisa are friends; they are not actually engaged, but it seems only a question of time. In this moment Elisa is following the last details of a party in Max's house and everyone is expecting that they will announce the date. While Elisa is supervising the main floor, Max is in the wine cellar, screwing Ryan, a fellow officer and long date lover.
The story is pretty original, with Elisa's monologue that give us all the details of the three characters' life and counterpoint Max and Ryan's sexual intercourse. The three characters are at three different level of awareness: Max has just reached a decision, Elisa will reach that during the tale, and Ryan is still at the starting point; and so, even if Elisa is not the odd woman out of the couple, she has a strong voice, and she is somewhat more interesting than Ryan.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Two young men and an isolated mountain cabin... you doubt that something will happen? Bet no, and you only have to wait a bit, enough time for Mario, former sexual pet of a biker gang leader and also former right hand of a mobster boss, now under protection witness, to seduce Thomas, closeted FBI agent at his first important assignment. Thomas became an FBI agent to prove to his bad-ass father that he was enough man. No way he could reveal that he is gay, even if he has long admitted his true nature. But Thomas never played on his desires, and now, mid-twenty and with a work where the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy is common rule, he has even less chance to. That is, since the day he finds himself trapped in a cabin with Mario, a very sexy man, and also a man who has no problem to voice his desires... and now he wants Thomas. At first for Mario is only a question to scratch an itch, and Thomas is a very hunk to have around, so he sees no harm to play a bit. But when Mario realizes that Thomas is really a good man, and that he is more innocent than expected, he almost assumes the role of training ship.
Since this is a mix of suspense and romance, there is also some fast action scenes, but they are pretty simple and almost funny: it's like D.J. Manly needs to write them to give a background to the story, but what he really wants to do his writing more on Mario and Thomas' relationship, and so the feeling I had is almost like: "Well, since I need to do that, making it fast and then we can go back to the really interesting part of the story...". And so Thomas has his chance to prove that he is a relly Action hero, and Mario to worship him; I can so see Mario with a beckoning finger lying in bed telling Thomas: "All right big boy, now that you have your fun, come here and give me my fun!"
Of the two characters, as you maybe had understood, my favorite is Mario; I like his easy behavior that can turn in a hell cat, especially when he is in bed; poor Thomas has no chance to go out unarmed from that cabin...
Don't know if I read the story in the right way, but to me it seems like D.J. Manly wanted to take a leave from the angst stories he wrote lately, and with this one he enjoyed himself; also the end in "It's a Wonderful Life" style supports this feeling.
http://www.mojocastle.com/melting/ice2.h
Waiting Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
When former Vietnam soldier reborn as action figure died a second time also in his toy life, he thinks that this time will be forever. Instead the Toymaker has other idea in mind for him. But this time he has not a war mission but a love ones: he needs to teach to love again to Adrian, the shop owner who bought him as a broken action figure and that repaired him. After an initial perplexity, Adrian is ready to enjoy his new toy, the muscular and strong Mack, who hides inside a gentle soul. Adrian usually is not easy to let people near him, but maybe, since Mack is an extraordinary man, means that he is not real, it's more simple for Adrian to let go; all in all, maybe he thinks that this is still a dream.
This is the first in the Live Action Man series by Mary Winter; it's not so short, almost 70 pages, but the plot is pretty simple: the story is a funny sexy romp with a lot of sex, even if sometime it edges on the emotion when Mack remembers his time as a soldier.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
Waiting Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Ed is a simple farmer in a rural american small-town. But he is not a "normal" man: Ed saw an unicorn. Even if his family believes him nut, Ed is sure of what he saw and he treasures the memory. A soldier during the World War I in a battle field in Germany, mortally wounded, he was rescued by an unicorn. And when the unicorn lets Ed ride him in a safe place, the unicorn turned in an handsome man, blond hair and blue eyes like a prince charming and made love to Ed, only to disappear the morning after. Since that night, Ed, survived to the war and again at home, dreams of his unicorn man, and he feels himself estranged from his family and his land, he only yearns for his fairy tale man. Michael is a German noblemen. For century his family hid their secret nature, of shapeshifter unicorn and leader. During the war he was an officer, like all the men in his family before, but when the war ends, he can't forget the enemy he rescued and made love to. With the aid of a forgotten book, Michael tracks down Ed in America.
Here is a story I for sure regret a lot that is so short, less than 50 pages. The setting is original, the World War I, the characters unbelievable real in their unreality. The first encounter between Ed and Michael has made me felt almost a pervert, with Ed sudden arousal for an unicorn, that, let us said, all in all it's an horse... imagine of cheeky porns appears in my mind struggling with the fairy tales of my youth... And then the unicorns have always had a certain reputation among the damsel in distress...
After overcoming my naughty mind, I actually enjoy a lot the story. Ed's character is very well written, it has a very good development, I have enough elements to like him and to want to know much about him. Instead Michael preserves a bit of secretiveness, actually he only "spoke" almost at the end of the book. Still I like him, since I feel that also him has a story and one I would like to know. For all this reason I almost screamed in frustration when the book abruptly ends, without telling me more on these two heroes.
One plea to the author: TELL ME MORE. What happens next? We are speaking of an American hero in love with a German one, we are speaking of a period between the WWI and the WWII, when America-German relationships were not so good, we are speaking of two male lovers at the beginning of the Twenty Century when homosexuality was still a crime. All right this is a fantasy romance, maybe I haven't to expect too much reality from it, but the author chose to setting it in an even too much real environment and in a very delicate period, so now, I want to know more.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/So
Waiting Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Condor One is a fantapolitic novel. David Windsor, multimillionaire business man and far cousin of William V, the King of England, is now a democratic candidate to be the new USA President. His campaign goes very well since the american citizens are tired of years of Republican government, and he is the most probable winner. So his adversary lets drop the bomb during the last official speech: David is gay. Unexpected to everyone, David doesn't deny the news and au contraire, he embraces this new turn of his campaign, gaining even more consent from people who appreciate him for his honesty. So David becomes the new President and his life takes an accelerate path; in all the whirlwind, his only stepping stone is Shane, his bodyguard. Shane is a late twenty very handsome man, with the look of an American movie star and the character of Gandhi. He is always quite and sure, always ready for "his" President. At first David is a bit of a playboy, he plays with Shane but he is not against the idea to "play" also with some other fine looking men who happen to be near him, even if he has never had the chance to conclude something, since the official duty and the lack of intimacy don't allow him any free time. But when the events turn mad and all around him seems to crash, again and again Shane will be his only safe shelter.
The story has a very strong suspense plot, with a lot of action. It's almost like reading a Tom Clancy gay novel. What I find really interesting is David's character, a man that should be upright and detached, and instead, when he can, he is always ogling the fine ass of his bodyguard. But despite the weakness of his body, his mind is very strong and ready and when he needs to take an important decision, he is up to the task. And even if he tries to be fair with everyone, he is also willing to use the iron hand with necessary, and sometime I understand that he is also gladly to do that, when the justice falls upon someone he doesn't like: even if David is a good man, he has a naughty and devil side that sometime surfaces.
Shane maybe is too perfect. He is handsome, clever, generous... I never read about some faults about him. Maybe to be the man of a so important figure, he needs to be so, but well, I would like for him to be a little more angry, above all when David lets his weak body to lead him astray.
The erotic part of the novel are pretty strong, graphic and detailed... these are two men who are making sex (before love) and it's very clear: not chocolate and flowers for them, they go directly to the core of the matter.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/current
Amazon Kindle: Condor One
Amazon: Condor One
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Physical Therapy (Cattle Valley 5) by Carol LynneWith this one Carol Lynne manages to make me cry. Maybe in these days I'm particularly weak, maybe it's the hot night and they are not tears, but sweat drops... but well, while I'm writing this, my eyes are blurry and I continue to blow my nose...
Matt was an army paramedic in Iraq. He saw a lot of things that no one should see, not one time, but day after day. His only friend and support was his fellow army buddy Danny. Danny was wonderful, handsome and nice and straight. But being Danny straight didn't prevent Matt to fall in love with him. But Danny died, in the only day Matt was not with him, and obviously Matt is torn with guilty.
Now Matt is living in Cattle Valley, he is the town new physical therapist and he is living in the above garage apartment of the two town doctors and lovers, Isaac and Sam. Sam is 52 years old and a very quite man; he likes his works and likes his home; comfort and peace are radiating from him. Isaac is 47 years old and a bit of a bull; strong and always in motion, maybe he is too much for Sam. And here is the problem: Sam and Isaac are together since 25 years and Sam always wondered if he is enough a man for Isaac; not that he ever doubt Isaac's fidelity, but well, he has always tried to accomplish every desire of his man, even when it was against his mood or wish. And now here there is a 27 years old man, handsome and nice, and in dear need of help. Sam wants to help him, but at the same time he fears that, allowing Matt to enter their couple, he will lose Isaac.
Well, I hope that you understand that I didn't cry for Sam's dilemma, but for Matt's journey to be able to move on his war trauma and the lost of his friend. Carol Lynne pushes all the right bottoms of emotion, the same bottoms that make you cry even if you are aware that you are reading a book, and that all you are reading is only fiction, but still you cry since you unfortunately know that what you read is not only fiction, but it happened and maybe is still happening somewhere in the world.
And now, after my emotional breakdown, I also want to try to analyze another aspect of the book: why when I read of a threesome between two men and a woman I hardly like it, and when it involves three men it doesn't bother me? I'm fully aware that I have a prejudice, and I also believe that it's a feminist thing (please, male friends don't shoot me, here I'm admitting one of my weakness...): since in my culture, the woman gives birth and the woman is identified with family, when there is a woman in the threesome, it's obvious for me that she is the center of the threesome, and at least one of the two man, if not both, depending on her. So when there is love between the two men, I feel the woman like an intruder, since I'm always expecting that she will broke the male bond. In an all male threesome, without this strong female figure, they are all equals, and I think they can build something together without never arriving to a break up.
Returning to the book in question, obviously Matt is the main character. All the book turning around him and his trouble, but there is still enough space to appreciate also Sam and Isaac. Maybe Sam is better outlined, and also is reasons pro and against the threesome are clearer. I still need to understand better Isaac... there is a strong sexual need that lead him to Matt, maybe a need that Sam is not ready or willing to satisfy, but I hope that he also loves Matt. If not, Sam will be the link between them, even if physically he is weaker than the two, probably he is stronger in will.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=6
Out of the Shadow (Cattle Valley) by Carol LynneResisting to temptation is not a sought virtue in Cattle Vally, the Montana fictional LGBT small town. And so this new installment in the ongoing soap opera is another story of a man who gives up to temptation. Shep is a former bull rider who left the rodeo circuit when the sixteen years old son of his best friend came to live with them. Young Jeremy was too much a temptation for the man, and a "providential" knee injury gave him the right excuse to open a bull breeding ranch in Cattle Vally. But one year before, Jeremy came to the ranch searching a work and Shep couldn't refuse him. Jeremy now is 22 years old and more than ripe to be pick.
Jeremy is looking to seduce Shep since he was 16 years old. Now that the man of his dreams seems open to his seduction, he will not stop in front of nothing to have his way with him.
As always love triumphs in this small town and the main characters have little problem to consummate their love as soon as the book began. In less than 110 pages, our heroes make love in bed, in the barn, in the kitchen, in the truck... I believe they didn't forget any available surface... But this is the quirk of this series, and the reason why it is so sought after: it's refreshing and enjoyable to read of a love between two people, when the gay issue is not an issue at all.
Usually Carol Lynne raises a social issue, without therefore being boring or pedantic. In this one there is not, if not maybe the age difference between Shep and Jeremy (even if it's not too much highlighted) and the generational jealousy between Jeremy and his father. But all in all, I think that with this one Carol Lynne takes a leave, and the real purpose is only entertaining.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=s
Amazon: Cattle Valley
Series: Cattle Valley
1-2) Cattle Valley 1: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/21160
3-4) Cattle Valley 2: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/28565
5-6) Cattle Valley 3
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by Anne Cain
Cover Art by April Martinez
Jacob and Sean were in a foster home together, Jacob a 5 years old scared boy and Sean a 15 years old young guy. From the first time Sean knew that Jacob needed him and he was always there for him. Even now, twenty years later, Sean a Navy SEAL and Jacob a professional baseball player, Sean is still there for Jacob.Sean has long realized that he is in love with the younger man, but he can't do this to the man: both for his army career than for Jacob's public image, an homosexual relationship is not good, and so he forces himself to be a good big brother, always present, always caring. But when Jacob is kidnapped by a madman, Sean throws away all the thought about career and public opinion, and goes to rescue his man, since from that moment on, Jacob will be his man and no one wil interfere.
The story is pretty good, Sean the classic alpha male and Jacob the pretty twink. I also like the big brother-little kid relationship between the two, even if it borders maybe a little too much near incest, but well, they are not real brothers, and then now they are both adults, and Sean always behaved only as a caring brother and nothing else when Jacob was a kid.
What I find a bit disorienting is all the hurry in the story; all the events happen in a blur, I almost lost tracking of them. I think the plot and the characters were good for a longer novel, and a lot of points would be easier to understand. It's something I just experimented with Helen Gabriel's work: she has very good stories and characters, but I always read short stories by her (this one is less than 50 pages)... I'd like to try something longer.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Waiting Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
A short novel, strange but interesting.
Cam is a former Marine: after a mental breakdown due to a disastrous mission, he retired from the Corps and now he lives with his mother, a drill sergent with a skirt. Grace, his mother, is a notorious Mistress, she owns a very profitable brothel in San Francisco and even if she loves her son, she does nothing for free. And so a reluctant Cam finds himself sometime bartending and sometime whoring for his mother, and even if he is gay, when he is with a customer, woman or man is the same, it's not doing for pleasure but for work.
Seeing that adding a man to her stable improves the profit, Grace asks Cam to "recruiting" other young men, and Cam meets Joshua, a young man in obvious need of a friend. But Cam has no heart to bring Joshua back to his mother, and so he lets him go, hoping for him to find a better life. But maybe living in a brothel with a loving mother, even if a business woman, is not a so bad perspective in comparison on what he could find on the streets.
The story edges on the absurd. Both Cam than Joshua pasts are so unbelievable and excessive that are almost a genial twist in the usual story. And Grace is a wonderful character, almost better than his son Cam. Tart and Soul is a light tale, it seems like some old movies setting in difficult and dangerous era, but inside the movie all goes right, and the reality never breaks the good mood of the story. Even some pretty ugly events, like Joshua's raping, remain untold and refer to in a lightly way. And the resolution to the most difficult situations is always simple and fast.
Both Cam and Joshua are lost souls in need of a safe haven that they find in the "loving" embrace of Grace (even if Grace calculates how much money she could gain having two lost souls as her employees...)
Tart and Soul is not very long, less than 70 pages, but I think it deserves more, both on the same story and also telling us something more on what happens next.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/zencart
Amazon Kindle: Single Shot: Tart and Soul
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
This tale has an homey taste. Adam is returning home from Iraq after spending the last two years far from home. Probably when he signed in soon after high school, he really didn't understand what he would do and see. And reality was maybe too much for a now nearly twenty-one years old guy. Again at home he has lost all the link he had with his previous life, and the links he has made on army seem to disappear one at home: Tom, the man that has shared a secret love affair with him abroad, is now ready to marry and get pregnant his girlfriend.Adam is hurt but he also doesn't have an idea of what he wants to do in the future. After some not so happy discussions with his father, he decides to go away for a season, helping an old family friend to renovate an hunting resort. Calvin is a lonely man, older than Adam (he is of Adam's father age) but still handsome. And for a man like Adam, without reasons in his life, helping and loving Calvin can be a nice way to spend the days. What they have to understand is if this will be only a seasonly thing or if Adam has fully recovered from his depression, and he is ready to start again with something completely new.
As I said I like the taste of this novel. It's totally peaceful, in fully contrast with the war that Adam has escaped. Also the love between Calvin and Adam is nice and quiet: it's not a sudden flame, but it's a everlasting fire, something that will always be there for Adam.
The author tell us the story of a man who looses everything and finds more than he lost.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
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- Elisa
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